Director's credits, orchestral score and a decent script. Those unstable demarcation lines between film and interactive entertainment are blurring once more. The latest contender is Outcast, a sprawling third-person sci-fi adventure set in a parallel universe whose very existence threatens Earth. You play Cutter Slade, a dry-humoured tough guy, and as you'd expect, the fate of the world rests on your broad shoulders.

So far, so predictable, but start playing and you'll see a different approach both in look and gameplay. There is plenty of running, jumping and shooting but the big innovation is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is integral to the whole experience as your actions influence the response of every inhabitant. Gun-toting tendencies result in total ostracism and a smooth line in friendly chit-chat is necessary to progress anywhere. All this gives a wonderful non-linearity with numerous sub-quests rewarding the talkative player.

The impressive score adds a suitably epic ambience. Creating believable outdoor environments seems the holy grail for games designers and here the voxel-based look creates an other-worldly feel, with mountains fading into distant horizons and undulating landscapes offering a welcome change from claustrophobic corridors. The graphical engine doesn't support 3D cards so things do get annoyingly pixellated at close quarters.

Action, stealth and character interaction have been mixed before but not on this scale. The atmosphere is enough to make you ignore some of the rougher graphical glitches and you'll feel rightly proud as you do your bit for inter-dimensional diplomacy. Greg Howson

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace PC CD-Rom Lucasarts £34.99

What, no health warning? Released a month before the movie and drawing heavily on its plot, this game could seriously damage your enjoyment of the film. Marketing quibbles aside, it's everything you'd expect of a third-person adventure, and no more: blinding cut scenes, impressive 3D environments and effects (processing power permitting), and detailed yet oddly geometric characters.

Gameplay is chiefly combat-based, but get some Savlon for that itchy sabre finger; judicious use of the Force often yields the best results.

On the dark side, the dynamic overhead perspective makes it impossible to see what you're doing as often as it looks cool; the story is straitjacket-linear; and the puzzles and battles are more of a test of pinkie power than grey matter. Like the film, the game won't disappoint those who enjoyed the original trilogy " in this case Tomb Raider, Unreal and Half-Life. Andy Bodle